Musings
by Time Signature
Summary: Praise must follow the mute - after all, all those "new generation" champions all can't or won't talk, including Serena. And I'm just chasing after her, trying to keep up with her, trying to stay a rival.


It seems as though praise follows the mute.

They say that the renowned heroine of Kanto, known only as Leaf, never spoke at all. True, the last time anyone saw her was quite a long time ago (perhaps 4, 5 years now?) and people might be making up baseless rumors, but still.

Next, the Champion of Johto – Kotone, I believe – could talk, true, but only rarely. She would only speak to those she was truly close with, and even then in a faint whisper. But her radiant smile more than made up for it (or that's what all those tabloids and gossip channels repeat like Chatots). Personally, I think she's pretty, but not so much when compared to _her._

I'm not too sure about Hoenn…I think the saviors were twins? Haruka and Yuu…Yuu something.

Sinnoh's heroine was appraised as the next "cool beauty" Champion after the previous, Shirona. A lot of photos have them in the same frame – the tall, mysterious woman in the black coat and knee-length blonde hair, and the younger girl with shorter, raven-black hair, a fluffy pink jacket, and a piercing expression. Looking at the pictures, it seems sometimes that she thinks most people aren't worth talking to. I don't know about the truth, though – I've never met her, after all.

Unova has _two._ The first, the tomboyish and reckless Touko, bonded with Reshiram. Two years later, Mei gains Zekrom from the previous head of the evil organization there and bonds with both Zekrom and Kyurem. Mei can talk – she's one of the leading actresses in the world. But apart from her, most of the young "new generation" champions can't or won't talk.

Right now I'm watching my next door neighbor becoming the youngest leader of the Kalos League. She's glowing. When she normally dims everyone around her with her beauty, today she's sharing her light. Amidst all the flashing lights, the excited reporters, her admiring devotees, she's just angelic.

…Ugh. I'm being sappy. Kalos boys are supposed to be more refined, not head-over-heels for the Champion, no less. I should be filled with jealousy that I'm not the one up there. I should be the rival that she's looking for, not one of her many admirers – I'll never settle for being one of the crowd. But when did this happen? She just was a "somewhat cute" next-door neighbor. And then soon after she moved in, we became fierce rivals – not bitter, just burning with friendly rivalry.

Or perhaps that was just my imagination – perhaps she never saw me as a rival at all. She always managed to defeat me with ease and natural grace. I was always the one running after her while she strode so simply toward greater things. Defeating Team Flare, capturing _all three_ legends (now there's a feat that won't happen again for a long, long time), claiming the Championship.

The giant screen behind her slowly fills with her beautiful, loopy cursive that she uses to communicate instead of her voice (that she lost before she moved to Kalos, apparently).

"Who would you like to share this victory with the most, Miss Serena?" one reporter asks. She blinks a couple times then turns to look at the crowd – who could she be looking for? Then she glances at me, and shows a hint of a smile.

…What? No, must be the person behind me. Yeah, that must be it. Won't do to get my hopes up, right?

But the screen says differently. Slowly she forms a capital "C," then "a," "l," "e," and "m."

My name. Calem.

The reporters chatter on, "Your rival? And precisely why is that, Miss Serena?"

Stared at from many people, she flushes a shade of pink (absolutely adorable, an irritating and uncalled-for voice in my mind whispers) as she picks up her stylus-thing and writes, "I wouldn't be here," pauses for a moment (looking at me for a split second before turning an even deeper shade of red and scanning the audience again), and continues, "if not for him."

"Why?" the reporters' voice overlaps with mine. I never did anything – she was always the one pulling me up.

The screen goes blank. "If not for him," she begins and then erases, rewriting "If not for his rivalry," erasing _that,_ too, and settling for "If not for his support," continuing, "I would never had the bravery…"

She gazes at me with that unreadable expression – my best guess being a mix of seriousness, sadness, and hope (am I contradicting myself? I think so). I know what she means – she would never had the bravery to face Pokémon again after her horrible accident back in Kanto, where a rogue and crazed Tyranitar had traumatized her forever and caused her to lose her voice.

But the nosy people don't need to know that. She quickly finishes, "to become Champion."

Serena, stop, someone's going to start looking for me. I don't want that at all. Just stop. Go on, describe yourself, how amazing you are, not me. I never did anything – Serena – stop!

Much to my dismay, someone grabs my arm. Shoot, I got caught. I'm getting dragged up on stage – let go of me, idiot! I have no intention to go up there! – next to Serena, whose eyes are filled with mirth. I can almost hear her soft peals of laughter.

The journalists' and audience members' eyes sharpen like hawks (their target being me, of course, unfortunately) and begin a torrent of questions, ranging from "What is your opinion on Serena's victory?" to "How would you say you supported her?" to "You'd make a perfect couple, do you like her?"

…What was that last one?

I don't care what they say about me, but that's an insult to Serena. That's an insult to her privacy. Yeah, I like her, but she has the choice to pick whatever guy she wants. What right do they have to decide whether she looks nice with one guy or another?

I'm about to open my mouth, to shout at the reporters who, instead of calming down, are becoming even more like vultures on our love lives, when a beautiful voice rings out,

"Please stop."

We all look around. We stare at Serena. It looks like the voice came from her, but that's just not possible – she can't speak!

"Calem," she mouths, but with that angelic voice. "Close your mouth, the bugs will fly in." Then she giggles – it's the most magical thing I've ever heard.

The reporters shake themselves out of their stupor to bombard her with questions, when she raises a hand to silence them.

"Yes, I can speak. I've met a lot of people, a lot of Pokémon, along my journey. And along the way, I found a cure for it as well. It's just that writing was more comfortable to me, easier, so that's why I kept writing."

She pauses once. "And besides, I was afraid that my voice would sound…sound…unpleasant."

She stops, blushing a bright shade of Pikachu-cheek red. "But enough about that, back to the topic."

Avoiding the audience's gazing, she looks down at her board again, hand twitching toward the stylus. But then she raises her head proudly, much suited for a Champion – no, much suited for Serena, and gazes at me. Her midnight-blue eyes are looking right at me.

…It's getting uncomfortable.

"Sere-"

"Calem!" she exclaims, cutting me off (and making me jump a tiny – tiny, mind you! bit in my chair).

"I want…uhm, well, what I mean is…"

She fiddles with the stylus for a couple moments. "Uhm, I want to know the answer to that question too."

Which question? Again my voice overlaps with the reporters'.

"You know, that one! Come on, answer it!" she continues, looking everywhere except me now.

"Which one, Serena? I don't know which unless you tell me."

She looks down at her stylus again with almost childlike fascination before biting her lip.

"Calem!" she repeats. "I'm only going to say this once!" She turns pinker than a Jigglypuff and mumbles something. I lean in to hear, along with the reporters, but apparently no one caught it.

"Serena? I couldn't hear that," I have no choice but to say.

"I said, I said I'm only going to say it once! But…but fine!"

She takes a deep breath, stares right into my eyes (her eyes are just simply captivating), and whispers, "Do you…like me?"

What? …No, must be some dream or the other. There's no way Serena would…

Her flushed face tells me otherwise. And I can't resist teasing her like I used to, back when we were close in skill.

"Hmm, why do you ask? Is it because you like me?"

Her eyes flash in irritation before she mumbles, "So what if I do?" She looks adorable, the rational (really?) part of my mind thinks, before I hug her tightly.

"Then I'm the happiest, luckiest person in the world."

Serena retorts, "I'm happier and luckier than you!" out of reflex, probably, before she registers what I said.

"Whaaaaaa?" she stutters, trying futilely to push me away. No can do.

"Surprised, Serena?"

Turning away, she stammers, "Calem, you…idiot."

Yeah, don't deny that. After all, my hypothesis was wrong.

Praise doesn't follow the mute. It follows beautiful, strong girls who have such lucky rivals.

(After all, I can't imagine it all to be a coincidence – Leaf has her rival, now Gym Leader, Green. Kotone has _her_ rival, the son of Team Rocket's leader, Silver. Hoenn's quite far, so I don't really know, but anyway, Sinnoh's Hikari has _hers._ In Unova, Touko has her rival/previous enemy/the head of the evil organization she was battling, N, and Mei has hers as well. And I, of course, have Serena.)

Rivalry is a weird thing. It's supposed to separate people, but it brought us all together.

Not saying it's bad, though. Not at all. I'm so lucky to have Serena.


End file.
